


Robbing Treasure Island

by MossyFlossy



Series: Life Outside the Library [5]
Category: The Invisible Library - Genevieve Cogman
Genre: F/M, Heist fic?, Irene is still a thief, Uh oh she's stealing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-23
Updated: 2019-06-23
Packaged: 2020-05-18 08:40:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19331038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MossyFlossy/pseuds/MossyFlossy
Summary: Irene has one last assignment before she can finally return home again one month after she saw Kai and Vale last, a heist of a book she had never come across before, and she is finally in for some luck





	Robbing Treasure Island

It was cold and raining. When wasn't she caught in the rain? Or the cold? Irene's thoughts were bitter but somehow feverish. It had been too long since she'd done a job like this, a heist with an actual plan, and she was... Nervous? Excited?

Adrenaline was pounding in her veins and her heart was thudding in her chest, like she'd drank four or five coffees in one go, though, she supposed, that much caffeine may actually kill her. She wasn't too sure. She took a deep breath and forced her thoughts to slow down and to relax.

Guards would change in ten minutes. The two by the entry way would turn left and march past her hiding spot, hopefully not spotting her, and two minutes later, new guards would take their spot. She was currently in one of the few dead spots that she could come across whilst going through building plans and security details. She couldn't be seen by any camera, nor would a guard sweep come across her tucked behind a stinking rubbish bin, shrouded in heavy black cloth cloak that was keeping most of the rain off her. Most of it. It was doing its best to make its way through thin leather gloves and into her boots. Her socks were already damp, and it was a deeply unpleasant sensation. 

She was counting down the seconds, pulling her hood up at thirty seconds. At ten she saw the flicker of a flashlight and at zero she heard boots squelching through thick mud towards her. She gave it another thirty seconds before she ran for the door. There was a security camera above the door but a practised line in the language disabled that and she unlocked the door in the same sentence, dashing in out of the rain. The security centre was at the end of the corridor and there should only be one man there and it would be two minutes before the next patrol. 

The door to the security room was unlocked and she wanted to laugh. Why did no one ever think that security inside needed to match security outside? The security worker did, at the very least look up and jolt at her sudden presence. 

"Do not press the security alarm." She said calmly. His fingers slid along the desk. "Press it and you will get hurt." He froze. "That's better. Put your hands in the air." He didn't move and Irene gripped the taser at her hip, she hadn't wanted to bring a gun, they were noisy, messy and frankly, they scared her a little bit these days. She wasn't surprised when he lurched for a panic button, he was shocked when she fired the taser and sent him to the ground in an uncoordinated heap. She watched and then put the taser away again and sighed. Why people wouldn't go for the easy option, she would not know. She tied him up in case he came round and roused the alarm before she was out, no one would be coming in here. 

She did feel sorry for the man, tasers were unpleasant and the aftereffects could be even more so. She knew from far too much experience. Zip ties held his wrists and ankles together, they were easier to carry than ropes and cuffs and harder to get out of, again she knew that from far too much experience, and she shoved him underneath his desk, taking a second to yank out the cables for the alarm whilst she was down there. If anyone glanced in, it would look as if he weren't there, hopefully he did not have a habit of hiding under his desk that people knew about.

Irene would not claim to know how to hack computers, but she did know people who could, and who could write her some very simple instructions and give her a computer program that meant that she didn't have to hack. She plugged a memory stick into the first USB port that she could find, nervously tapping her fingers as the program loaded, and then forcing herself to stop again. It was an annoying habit, and she didn't want any habits. Habit and routine got people killed. Okay. Maybe tapping her fingers wouldn't get her killed but it would certainly annoy people around her. She exhaled as the screen flared to life with an open password dialogue box. 

'Trinity' She typed in and it blinked away, and a second box opened. Before a third, fourth and fifth, security feeds from various places. She clicked back to the second box and it was asking her what she wanted it to do. 'f a f.' she put in. Freeze all feeds. Simple. Easy as pie her counterpart had said as he handed it over. 

With the security dealt with, apparently until someone discovered the drive and removed it, Irene felt a bit more comfortable, though she did still have to be wary of security patrols.

She pulled off the cloak, it would just get caught and snag on things if she ran down corridors in billowing cloaks. Though it would be fitting had the Manor house that she was robbing was in its original form.

It probably had once been a marvellous work of Edwardian architecture. Now it had been retro fitted for some reclusive billionaire with more money than sense and an unhealthy amount of paranoia resulting in an unhealthy amount of security. Unhealthy for her that was. And probably for his accounts. Healthy for the security who weren't entirely necessary. She nearly laughed at her own mind. Of course she wouldn't see it as necessary, she was robbing the place. To her it was a mild nuisance, like the footsteps in the corridor.

She tucked herself under the desk with the unconscious security worker as they got closer, pausing outside of the door, and then continuing onward. She exhaled and slowly crawled out from under the desk, how inelegant. She surveyed the room. Until someone came in here, she'd be fine, once someone realised that the feed was just running on a loop, the place would probably go into lock down and it would be so much hassle to deal with that. That being said, she was giving herself ten minutes and no more, so she had to get a move on.

She'd studied the building plans and made sure that she had memorised them before even coming up with a plan of what she was going to do, no point in trying to rob a place with a plan that got you in and not out.

She'd need to get into the main part of the building, that was relatively easy. In trainers, tight black leggings, black top and hooded jumper, she could run with little hindrance. So she did so, running down the corridor, taking a left and then heading down the stairs at the end of the next corridor and on the right hand side of her. Stealth was required so whilst she could run through the corridors without making much noise, she had to move quietly on the back stairs, they were iron, and it would have been far too noisy to run down them. As it was, she was making too much noise for her taste and she slowed to a crawl until she got down to the basement level. From there she could bypass the security doors and hopefully most of security until she was in the library. It wasn't big enough for her to force entry to the Library, or at least didn't look it from her plans. So she'd have to get out again afterward. But one step at a time.

She ducked behind some crates as security trotted past discussing some inane television show that she didn't know or care about. They were eating into her precious time. She had to fight the urge to sigh until they were out of earshot (if she couldn't hear them, she assumed that they couldn’t hear her) and breathed out. Security didn't care enough to try but they cared enough to actually do patrols. She finally skulked out of the shadows. Two minutes down. Eight remaining.

The next door had a lock on it, but she got through that without a second thought, and then she was running again. The plans were up to date, something that she was grateful for, and she counted the doors down before throwing one open.

“Stop!” Oh god damnit! She slammed the door shut in the guard’s face.

 **“Door seal to your frame.”** Plan B then, having a plan B was nice, and there even was a plan C. She didn’t want to have to revert to that though as it involved sewage pipes. She doubled back on herself and headed back into the basement, running as fast as she could, she had less time now, the alarm would be going off any minute…

There it was.

The alarm cut through the air in a peal of bells that made her ears ring. She had been expecting that now though and had a plan to deal with it, starting with cutting the electricity. Sure she would be in the dark, but they would too, and a backup generator would come on soon anyway. She’d probably have two minutes of darkness and very confused guards.

Irene wasn’t entirely sure which fuse was which when she found the box in the cellar. So she decided to go with the next logical step, and removed all of them.

It all went dark and silent.

It was harder to navigate in the dark. Irene had to feel along the wall until she found the door and began to make her way up the stairs behind it. She could hear shouting and thundering boots, so far, the lights weren’t coming back on and she could slip through the halls. She’d have to run as soon as the backup generator kicked in.

Five doors later, she muttered an order for it to unlock and let herself in. She was at four minutes left. She would be cutting it fine.

“Is that you Liam? Stupid power out, again.” She didn’t reply. “Liam?” She tripped and heard the sound of a gun being unholstered. Had she counted wrong? She was fairly certain that this room was meant to be an office. Had she got the wrong door in the basement and ended up in the barracks?

She should have been near an entrance to the air con system. That wasn’t good.

“Who’s there. Identify yourself.” The order was clipped and barked.

 **“You perceive that I am your immediate superior.”** She said in the Language.

“Sorry sir, I didn’t realise that it was you.” He replied after a beat where Irene was sure that her heart was in her throat. “How can I be of service?”

“You are needed outside, check the perimeter.” She said, supplying him with the first suggestion that her brain gave her. She stepped out of the way of the door and prayed to several deities that the power would remain out until he was out of the room.

“Right away sir.” He said. She heard heavy boots on the floor, and then the door opening, and shutting again. She exhaled.

 **“Door lock.”**  She ordered, listening to the click. A second later, the emergency lighting flicked on, dull and with an amber glow but it was enough for her to see that she was in fact in the correct room, the guard must have been waiting in there for some reason or other. Probably for whoever Liam was. She didn’t want to be around when the Language wore off, or when whoever Liam was came looking.

There was a vent cover that was maybe two feet wide, and a foot and a half high. Irene was just thankful that she wasn’t particularly claustrophobic, so she quickly unclipped the cover, and wriggled into the small space. It smelt like dust.

It was a little harder to put the vent cover back into place, but she managed it with a bit of a struggle. So far, so good, no one had come in on her, and hopefully, the power outage would help keep them off her back for her to at least be able to get into the library and get a head start on finding the book.

Thank god for back up plans.

Thank god no one actually put lasers in the vents like they do in the movies.

Ten minutes of crawling later, there goes her time window, but that didn’t matter as it was just a personal target for bragging rights later on, she was certain that she was actually in the right place this time, and she ordered the vent cover out of her way, and slowly crawled out and got to her feet. The library door was around the corner, and probably being guarded.

Yes. One guard on the door. She strolled towards him like she belonged there, he tightened his grip on his gun and straightened up.

“Identification ma’am.” He snapped. Irene slid her hand into her pocket and pulled it out again, only she held her trusty little taser again. He didn’t even manage to cock the gun before he was down on the ground, twitching slightly. She kicked the gun away, nasty thing. More zip ties had his hands tied behind his back and she grabbed his identification card to swipe on the door, and let herself into the library, just in time for the alarm to go off again.

Well, luck never lasted.

The library was much larger than she had been expecting, two floors and possibly three rooms, she could see doors coming off the room that she was in, and if they were extensions to the library that would, a) give her enough books to get her into The Library, and b) explain why she had ended up running into a guard earlier, renovations had been done.

Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus was not a particularly rare work of fiction, or at least, it wasn’t in this world, and it was a common work in a good many worlds that she had visited. What was rare was the fact that in this world, there existed a prequel novel, a handwritten volume with only one being known to exist.

She loved jobs like this. Something completely new to find, the knowledge that she had retrieved a unique tome and, and something brand new to read, she was particularly excited about that last bit.

She passed row after row of books, itching to run her fingers over the spines and pull the books out and sit in one of the armchairs to read, but she wasn’t exactly in the best place for doing that.

There were cases of rare books, protected behind glass and held with heavy locks. The book was in the seventeenth case and she quickly opened it, the lock yielded with a simple sentence in the Language.

The door flew open with a bang. She knew she’d forgotten something. No matter, she couldn’t be seen from the door at the moment, and hopefully…

 **“Open to the Library.”** She hissed to the door of what must have been a storage cupboard. Quickly putting the book into a thin cotton bag, she pushed the door open and nearly went weak at the knees.

It had worked! Stepping inside, she let it shut with a thud and exhaled.

* * *

A quick kiss to Kai’s cheek, and then she sat down. “What has happened whilst I was away?” She asked. It had been four weeks since she had seen either man, having finally been allowed to return after collecting the Faustus sequel at the request of Coppelia. “Have you heard anything about O’Hara?”

“Someone burnt his house down. But no one has actually been able to find him to ask about it. So they think that he did it. What state was it in when you left, may I ask?” Vale asked, looking up and quirking an eyebrow.

“I am not stupid enough to admit to anything.” Irene said.

“But you will admit that you were there?”

“I never said that.”

“You kind of did, Xingan.” Kai said with a smirk. “Did you actually set it on fire?”

“I won’t be reporting it to anyone.” Vale said. “You have my word. He wishes all three of us dead, so a little inconvenience is the price that he shall have to pay.”

“I technically didn’t set it on fire.” She said. “I blew it up. Or tried to.” Kai snorted. “I don’t think there was enough gas to blow it up.”

“Ah, gas oven?”

“Goes up very quickly if given a good enough spark.” She said with a shrug. “Quite satisfying really. Until the bruises set in.”

“Has the Library heard anything?”

“No. But we are on high alert, he has a grudge against the treaty, then Librarians’ may be at risk.”

“And how is Seraphina?” Kai asked. Irene sighed.

“Not good.” She admitted. “She’s with another Librarian at the moment. But apparently, she hasn’t been sleeping, and she hasn’t been eating. I don’t know how I can help, or if I even can help.”

“I don’t think that this is the kind of thing that you can just… fix.” Kai said. He glanced at Vale who gave a small nod. “Just give her time and let her know that she can come to you if she needs to.” Irene nodded, and rested her head on his shoulder.

“Tired?” Kai asked, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. Irene hummed a yes in response, nodding slightly. “How much sleep have you been having recently?”

“Not enough.” Irene admitted. “You?”

“No nightmares.” He said. “There was a small ring that I must have found months and months ago. I don’t know why I kept it, but I did.”

“O’Hara?”

“He must have hired someone to do it.” Kai said. “I do owe Silver a small favour, I am dreading whatever that will be, because I couldn’t work out exactly what it was.”

“Hopefully, whatever he wants from you will not be too awful.” Irene said. “Did you visit Mu Dan?”

“It was a good thing that I did.” Kai said with a nod. “She was being affected more strongly than I was, she wasn’t doing too well at all. She should be doing better now though. And I went to visit my father briefly too, and warned him about what was happening, just in case the treaty signatories are at risk as well. He said that he would warn the other monarchs.”

“Good, good.” Irene said. “Silver is aware now too, though he seemed less inclined to kill his own kin than the three of us.”

“He may not wish to kill Strongrock or Mu Dan.” Vale said. “He seemed more interested in their suffering instead. And against there is the possibility that he doesn’t wish to kill you, he may, and forgive me for bringing this up, wish to do to you, as he has done to your friend.” Irene swallowed.

“Yes. It is possible.” She said quietly. “I have been trying not to think about it. It doesn’t matter. I do not intend on getting captured by him or killed for that matter.”

“Or captured at all?”

“Or captured at all.” She said, she yawned. “We need to find out if he is planning something else.” She yawned again.

“I think it can wait.” Vale said. “We have nowhere to start and I am waiting for a few different informants to get back to me. Until we have more information, I am afraid that we have nothing. And you clearly need to get some rest.” Irene frowned. "I'll let you know if I hear anything straight away.”

“Come on ‘Rene.” Kai said. “Let’s go home.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading, please comment as it keeps me alive ^^  
> I just really wanted to write Irene actually doing her job without it all going wrong for a change :)  
> The next fic will either start posting next week, or the week after, it depends on how much I can get written this week and if I manage to finish it soon


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